It's New Year, so time to look back and forward. These are 10 things I think we need to recognise in 2026. It’s a response to what I think are profoundly damaging mistaken assumptions I’ve heard and read from practitioners, journalists, and analysts in 2025. Warning: very long🧵

To all of you out there.

What role does ‘foreign policy specialisation’ play for small EU member states in international negotiations? In their article, @tomasweiss.bsky.social & Sandra Fernandes define it as a deliberate, enduring prioritisation of a region or topic in national foreign policy. 📄 👉 rdcu.be/eSvP8

‼️ New publication in Cambridge Review of International Affairs ‼️ My article asks when small state foreign policy specialisation gets recognised by others. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... @ims.fsv.cuni.cz @fsv.charlesuni.cuni.cz @unikarlova.cuni.cz

Specialisation (un)recognised: human rights and Western Balkans in Czech foreign policy

Specialisation is essential for small states to punch above their weight in international organisations. The literature argues that specialisation allows small states to concentrate resources and b...

tandfonline.com

Are you interested in Teaching & Learning? This is the event for you.

Heidi Maurer@heidimaurer.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Call for Papers for @ecpr.bsky.social @ecprsgeu.bsky.social section “Teaching in EU Studies in the Digital Age” to explore how AI, digitalisation & new pedagogies are reshaping #EU Studies more info: ecpr.eu/Events/Event... deadline: 10 December 2025

Many are concerned about the return of Babiš to the top of Czech politics. While the results of this weekend's Czech legislative election poses its concerns, I am an optimist. I think Babiš's victory is rather Pyrrhic. Here are some thoughts: blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...

The 2025 Czech election – Andrej Babiš’s Pyrrhic victory

Andrej Babiš’s ANO won the 2025 Czech election on 3–4 October. Yet as Jan Rovny explains, Babiš will find it challenging to form a stable government.

blogs.lse.ac.uk

Read our newest open-access publication in JIRD on small states' foreign policy specialisation: doi.org/10.1057/s412... #smallstates #research #EUstudies #academics

Foreign Policy Specialisation in EU Small States: Conceptualising and Analysing an Underexplored Practice - Journal of International Relations and Development

This paper defines and categorises the concept of ‘foreign policy specialisation,’ emphasizing its significance in small EU member states’ practices and its role as a source of power in international ...

doi.org

#UACES2025 starts on Monday in Liverpool. Once again, a range of brilliant panels. Many of them in our themed track on European security. I hope to see many of you there to discuss foreign interference, small state specialisation, and many other topics. @uaces.bsky.social @seceur-uaces.bsky.social

Interesting read, even if worrying. Much more reliance on paid WoS in Czechia. But some promotion models started going the Scholar way. Maybe a mistake…

Hannah Shelley, MLIS (Metadata, Lattes & Impostor Syndrome)@hannahshelley.site · 12mo ago

Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared

Jednou IMS, vždycky IMS. @ims.fsv.cuni.cz

This is great reading. It offers a very limited hope that European defence may ever work, but it does not rule it out entirely, so that's a relief. It's also slightly depressing research-wise. The complexity of it all almost prevents any meaningful understanding. In any case, go and read it!

Jocelyn Mawdsley@jocelynmawdsley.eurosky.social · 12mo ago

New article today in @jei-publication.bsky.social for @brunoomartins.bsky.social , @nicholasmarsh.bsky.social and I - "The European Iron Network: the remaking of the political economy of European defence production following the Ukraine War" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

My almost 30 minutes on Trump, Russia, Transatlantic relations and all that jazz on the Czech public radio (in Czech). plus.rozhlas.cz/trump-naslou...

Trump naslouchá tomu, kdo s ním mluví poslední. Na Aljašce to bude Putin, upozorňuje politolog Weiss

Prezidenti Donald Trump a Vladimir Putin se v pátek setkají na Aljašce. Ukrajina ani Evropa zastoupeni nebudou, evropští státníci se ale shodli, že jejich bezpečnostní zájmy musí být na jednání zohled...

plus.rozhlas.cz

And this, dear readers, is why people go to social media. Not for disinformation and venting their rage, but for exciting analyses of issues they actually never cared about until reading the threads.

derek guy@dieworkwear.bsky.social · last yr.

You should never follow any of these color charts. They are all stupid. I'll show you why. 🧵

A very thought provoking essay. What is the reason we ask students to write?

Brian Klaas@brianklaas.bsky.social · last yr.

After the latest round of grading papers, I wrote about AI, ChatGPT, the death of the student essay, and what it means for the future of human cognition.

This is a great post. Students often do not understand the importance of the research question. This post explains it so well!

Catherine E. de Vries@catherinedevries.bsky.social · last yr.

You don’t need more ideas. You need a better question. A thread on clarity, chaos, & what a Nobel Prize winner, a mosquito net & a PhD meltdown taught me about writing (+ thinking) better. 🪨 Here’s my new Respect the Marble post: catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/you-dont-n... 🧵

I am going to save this and go back to it every single time I need to write an abstract. My future me will love me for doing it.

Stefan Müller@stefanmueller.bsky.social · last yr.

📄 @fgilardi.bsky.social created this template for writing abstracts several years ago, and I’ve tried to follow Fabrizio‘s suggestions ever since. PDF: fabriziogilardi.org/resources/pa...

Evidence that humanities help us better understand the world around us.

Leah Greenberg ❌👑@leahgreenberg.bsky.social · last yr.

If you are interested in small states, you mustn't miss the current issue of Small States & Territories, which offers 25 articles on how small states offer answers to big questions. Edited by Hillary Briffa and Anna-Lena Högenauer, it's all open access. www.um.edu.mt/sst/currenti...

Current issue - L-Università ta' Malta

Current issue

um.edu.mt

This is such a good story!

Ciaran Martin@ciaranm.bsky.social · last yr.

This reminds me of my favourite Chatham House rule story 🧵 Way back in the pre-crash boom period, Gordon Brown as Chancellor hosted one of his big global investment conferences at the QEII in London. Muggins here, a junior Treasury official, had a cheap seat as one of the organisers…1/

Yep. As she says. But Sauna!!!

Louise Hawley@louiseah.bsky.social · last yr.

So far would say 5 go thro and 10 say goodbye - not a good year so far #Eurovision

Donald Trump has dedicated his life in politics with single-minded ferocity to one luminous goal: the utter and final destruction of the weekly magazine

If it walks like insider trading, and it quacks like insider trading...

A must read thread on the German coalition agreement and foreign policy!

Gesine Weber@gesineweber.bsky.social · last yr.

German draft coalition agreement has been published. What's in the agreement on foreign, security, defence policy, and Europe? 🧵

Genius! theonion.com/rotation-of-...

Rotation Of Earth Plunges Entire North American Continent Into Darkness

NEW YORK—Millions of eyewitnesses watched in stunned horror Tuesday as light emptied from the sky, plunging the U.S. and neighboring countries into darkness. As the hours progressed, conditions only w...

theonion.com

Just to remind you that there is still time to apply for a full-time post doc at Charles University and work with us on reaction to foreign interference in the EU, NATO and their member states. Let me know if you have any questions. #AcademicSky #polisky #EUsky #research #researchjob

Tomas Weiss@tomasweiss.bsky.social · last yr.

❗ CfA full-time postdoc position on foreign interference! ❗ Join us in Prague for research on foreign interference in the EU, NATO and their member states. A full-time research job for 42 months. Deadline for applications: 17th March Start date: July 2025 More info: ims.fsv.cuni.cz/en/news/post...

Surprise, surprise!

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · last yr.

As the US guts its foreign aid programmes, China has put forward an alternative path that focuses on financing infrastructure projects rather than humanitarian aid. Many African leaders have said these projects are needed to lift their countries out of poverty www.ft.com/content/23e5...

Just to remind you that there is still time to apply for a full-time post doc at Charles University and work with us on reaction to foreign interference in the EU, NATO and their member states. Let me know if you have any questions. #AcademicSky #polisky #EUsky #research #researchjob

Tomas Weiss@tomasweiss.bsky.social · last yr.

❗ CfA full-time postdoc position on foreign interference! ❗ Join us in Prague for research on foreign interference in the EU, NATO and their member states. A full-time research job for 42 months. Deadline for applications: 17th March Start date: July 2025 More info: ims.fsv.cuni.cz/en/news/post...

Díky Honzovi Burešovi a @brestan.bsky.social za pozvání do Makromixéru. Mluvili jsme o evropské bezpečnosti, o obranném průmyslu, transatlantických vztazích a tak podobně. Otázky byly skvělé, odpovědi snad dostačovaly. Můžete se rozhodnout sami: 1url.cz/v16zK

MakroMixér Jana Bureše a Roberta Břešťana s Tomášem Weissem 2/2025

MakroMixér Jana Bureše a Roberta Břešťana · Episode

1url.cz

#BlueskyResistance #Voices4Victory #ProudBlur Advertisement at a London bus stop. Ya gotta love the British…

Even if a Frankenstein made up of Clinton, Obama and Biden wearing a Santa costume handing out free oil, gas and F-35s to EU member states were to re-emerge it would still be in Europe’s best interests to develop their own defences…

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · last yr.

Trump wants a world safe for autocracy | Opinion https://www.ft.com/content/452d7f83-fcce-424a-9d6d-4493b0112ec8